Airline partnerships have by now become an integral part of the airline industry.

Carriers cooperate in many different ways, from shared use of airport facilities to complex agreements uniting the entire partner airlines networks. Doganis (2001) records over 500 various partnerships between airlines in 1998, and this number has for sure increased since then. Since airline cooperation started on the international markets, it was initially suggested that the main reason for such partnerships was avoiding the entry barriers stipulated by regulation on those routes. US carriers have also formed a number of partnerships on the deregulated US domestic market. Another line of thought suggested airline partnerships was a way to make the partner airlines product more attractive to consumers by introducing seamless travel, which includes checking in both the passenger and his/her luggage up to the final destination for trips that require change of operating carrier, as well as coordination in scheduling.